This invention relates generally to communications between an aircraft and ground systems and, more particularly, relates to assigning data a priority for further processing.
Communication between an aircraft and ground system sometimes is referred to herein as Aircraft/Ground Systems Communications (AGSC). As used herein, the term aircraft refers to airplanes, helicopters, missiles, and any object capable of flight. Such communications are not limited to communications when the aircraft is in the air, but also includes communication when the aircraft is on the ground. In addition, AGSC generally is bidirectional between the aircraft and ground.
AGSC traditionally are based on transmission of small messages that support aircraft and flight operations. Demand for additional communication channels and data transfer needs, however, is driving rapid change in connection with such communications. For example, with respect to airplanes, such airplanes are becoming increasingly connected through distributed systems relying on integrated information spanning each airplane and ground. The AGSC provides the right information to the right people at the right time for better decision making in an environment of rapidly increasing demand for information. Such increased demand is due, for example, to increasing reliance by ground systems upon real time operational data from the aircraft, as well as increased communication needs of the flight crew, cabin crew and passengers. Further, in addition to messaging, there are applications in which large data files are transferred between air and ground using file transfer techniques rather than messaging.
Satellite, ground-based wireless, data-over-cellular, and other communication techniques, utilizing a variety of protocols including Internet Protocol (IP) can, for example, be utilized for AGSC. Providing sufficient channels for the increasing volume of data traffic is challenging. In addition, message diversity (e.g., message size) along with an increasing number of applications producing and consuming data in support of a wide range of business processes puts additional demand on the communication channels. Communications channels have different costs associated with them for data transfer, depending on the service provider, global location and other factors.
A known approach for handling message priority assigns priority on a linear scale, e.g., 1 through 5. For example, messages with a priority “1” are delivered ahead of those messages with a priority “2”, and so on. Such linear scales are too simplistic to properly address the range of data communications needs of the different applications communicating with one another in support of diverse business processes. The challenge is to meet these different data communications needs in the presence of complex constraints and alternatives in the communications infrastructure. For example, if some data is very important but will not be utilized by the consuming application for 24 hours, the delivery of such important data can be completed any time before then, allowing the data to be assigned a lower priority. This provides the flexibility to deliver other data ahead of such important data, and defer delivery of such important data until a high-bandwidth, lower cost option is available. But if delivery of such important data has not been completed as the 24 hour deadline approaches, a linear priority does not take into account the increasing urgency of having to deliver this data, possibly using more expensive delivery choices. Other needs may be associated with other data, e.g., immediate delivery no matter what the cost, or deleted within a short period of time.